The Blood and Sand cocktail is one of the most successful drinks making use of Scotch whisky. At the same time it’s a bit of a mystery. Camper English trys to lift the lid on a strange classic.

The Blood and Sand is a cocktail that makes no sense when you see it written: It is equal parts whisky, orange juice, Italian vermouth, and cherry liqueur. It sounds excessively sweet, bland, and fruity, like one of those unbalanced cocktails a public relations firm would invent for National Vermouth Day. However, when shaken and served in a cocktail glass, the combination is quite amazing. It is fresh and juicy, rich yet nuanced, and it can be made masculine and smoky or light and easy depending on the brand of scotch used. And luckily for cocktail nerds, a four ingredient drink provides four different ingredients over which to obsess, independently and also in combination.

Though many early American cocktails were named for successful Broadway actors and plays, the Blood and Sand was named for a famous movie back in the early days of Hollywood. The silent, black-and-white movie Blood and Sand was released in 1922. It stars Rudolph Valentino as the young Spanish boy who becomes a famous bullfighter but is ultimately undone by falling in love with both his childhood sweetheart and also a rich and worldly woman. Since it is a bullfighting movie, you can probably guess the tragic ending. (For those interested in seeing the movie, I recommend the sound-and-color 1941 version staring Tyrone Power as the bullfighter and Rita Hayworth as the temptress.)

Neither version of the movie contains cocktails or any large amount of drinking, so it seems that the cocktail was inspired by the success of the movie. Of the ingredients, only oranges might be Spanish in origin, but both scotch and orange juice could be considered sand-colored, while cherry brandy and Italian vermouth could be considered blood-colored. The first printed recipe for the drink in a book appears to be in The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock in 1930. Though much of the Savoy Cocktail Book was copied from other, earlier cocktail books, the Blood and Sand is one of the rare recipes that appears first in its pages. Cocktail Kingdom owner and vintage cocktail book expert Greg Boehm says the drink was mentioned in “A Cocktail Continentale” from 1926 before the Savoy, but not the recipe.

Blood and Sand Cocktail, from The Savoy Cocktail Book

¼ Orange Juice
¼ Scotch Whisky
¼ Cherry Brandy
¼ Italian Vermouth

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

The Base Spirit

This drink is most often served with blended scotch whisky, which is a blend of single malt scotch with grain whisky. Chivas, Johnnie Walker, and Dewars are three of the top-selling blended scotches. However, the Blood and Sand benefits from the use of single malt scotch or blended malt scotch, which is a blend of single malts. The more neutral column-distilled grain whiskies in blended scotch do not lend as much flavor and texture to the drink as does a single-malt. At Hide Bar in London, the default scotch used in the drink is the blended malt Monkey Shoulder. Bar owner Paul Mathew (who works in Beijing as a consultant and runs the blog called BloodAndSand.com) says of the scotch, “(it) has a nice full-flavour that carries through the drink. Blends with lots of grain can be a little light for the drink in my opinion. Given the richness of the other ingredients, I like the whisky to be bold enough to remain the backbone of the drink. We prefer a peaty single malt, but the cost is too high to list it with drinks that are a standard price. We usually recommend it as an up-sell though.”

The more expensive option is also to match the customer’s tastes. Mathew continues, “I would recommend the smoky option to someone who likes their whisky and wants something bold, but for another customer who has been drinking gin cocktails or wants an aperitif, a lighter whisky and less full-on vermouth might be a more appropriate introduction to the drink.”

Shake very hard over the coldest ice you can get your hands on, then single strain into a chilled coupette. I leave off the twist as I find the bitterness unnecessary and a little out of place – others add a flamed orange. A hard shake and single strain are, to me, essential to leave a small film of broken ice shards over the surface of the drink through which it should be gently, but not too slowly consumed.

At Reingold in Berlin, the Blood and Sand is usually served with Auchentoshan 12 year-old single malt scotch, Martini Rosso vermouth, Cherry Heering, and fresh orange juice. However, for a recent special bartender David Wiedemann says they made the drink with the peaty Laphroaig 10-year-old scotch, the robust Carpano Antica Formula vermouth, Cherry Heering, and fresh pink grapefruit juice.
At Lebensstern, also in Berlin, Ricardo Albrecht uses a different smoky scotch in the drink: Ardbeg. Albrecht says, “The drink works with nearly every scotch. We thought about making it a bit different. It turns the whole drink around; gives it more power.”

Hard and short shake on dry ice with a small orange zest. No garnish.
Islay scotches like Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Bowmore add a smoky flavor to the drink that pairs surprisingly well with the fruity combination of cherry and orange juice. The smoke flavors in whisky come from peat, a decaying vegetation once burned for heat that is now used to flavor the malted barley that goes into the whisky. Some bartenders are finding their smoke flavors from other sources than peat, however.

In the United States, California in particular, bartenders have access to several brands of excellent mezcal. Top quality mezcal is typically made by placing agave into an earthen pit with hot coals and cooking it for several days. This gives it a smoky flavor not entirely similar to that of peated whiskies, but the resultant mezcal can sometimes be used in recipes that call for smoky scotches.
Bartenders have substituted mezcal for whisky in the Penicillin, Sazerac, Old Fashioned, and of course, the Blood and Sand. At Beretta, a bar in San Francisco, bar manager Ryan Fitzgerald calls the mezcal version of the drink the Arena y Sangre; the Spanish translation of blood and sand.
Fitzgerald says, “It’s a cocktail I’d been trying to get right for awhile. Because of this you’ll see that the recipe is quite different from the original. It’s even got an Italian twist to make it more Beretta-esque,” citing the restaurant’s Italian theme.

“I had to add some bitters and lemon juice to balance it out and brighten everything up. The Visciolo is playing the role of sweet vermouth,” he says.

A final way bartenders infuse smoke into the Blood and Sand and other cocktails is by smoking the ingredients themselves. Some accomplish this by smoking fruit over a barbecue grill. Other bartenders use oven smokers to smoke fruits in a kitchen setting. After the fruit is smoked, they may muddle the fruits along with alcohol to make bitters and tinctures, or add sugar to make smoky syrups. These preparations provide the opportunities to added smoked bitters or tinctures to the cocktail, or perhaps to make the drink made with smoked cherry syrup and orange liqueur in place of cherry liqueur and orange juice.

The Choice of Orange Juice

Craig Hermann, who blogs at the site ColonelTiki.com, has undertaken a study of orange juice in cocktails. (If you want to know about citrus, ask a tiki geek.) He has found that unlike most citrus juices where fresh is by far a better option, “Freshly squeezed orange juice is in most cases insipid and may well ruin your cocktail.” According to Hermann, this is because many of the oranges available for sale are grown for maximum yield of juice, ease-of-harvest, aesthetics, and shelf life. They are acceptable for eating and have great zest in the peels, but are not good for flavorful juice. The most common orange varieties in the US are “common sweet orange” and the Bahia Navel orange.

Recommended orange varieties include Valencia (from which most orange juice is made), Cara Cara (with a “dark orange color and complex juice flavor”), and Hamlin (“light, flowery orange flavor with undertones of honey” but a thin rind). These oranges come from California, South America, and Florida: Likely there are other varieties available in Europe. When choosing oranges in general, Hermann gives the following guide. “Your chances will improve greatly by looking for these characteristics: location, weight, color. The locality should be your closest (source). The weight should be heavy for its size – it should feel dense. The color should be as close to green as possible. All oranges are green in their native tropics: colder climes and senescence cause the process that lead to the reveal of the orange color. Yes. Oranges are green.”

Of course, not every bar has access to a variety of oranges and other produce as seasons change. Given the option of fresh-squeezed orange juice from watery flavorless oranges and juice from a bottle, the bottled juice may be the better option. But let us not pretend that bottled orange juice is juiced oranges put into a bottle. There are two kinds of orange juice usually available on shelves: Orange juice from concentrate, and not-from-concentrate that is often called “fresh-squeezed.” The not-from-concentrate type is centrifuged to remove the oils, then pasteurized, and usually de-oxygenated to prevent it from spoiling. This removes much of the juice’s flavors, so it is then re-flavored before shipping to stores. Orange juice from concentrate is heated to remove excess water, flavored, and frozen. It is then sold as frozen concentrate or is watered down and bottled. Hermann says he will use processed bottled orange juice products when all he can find is out-of-season oranges, or cannot find (real) fresh orange juice in jugs from a health food store. To recognize the real, fresh orange juice, Hermann says, “Real orange juice goes bad in days, so the (expiration) date should be less than a week or so.”

But not all bartenders use orange juice. The special at Reingold used fresh pink grapefruit juice. Humberto Marques of 1105 in Copenhagen uses persimmons. Marques says, “One day I was in a big fruit shop and I found persimmons (A persimmon is an orange fruit that looks similar to a tomato. There are two varieties of this fruit, one of which is small and round and can be eaten right off the tree, skin and all. The other variety is larger and must be picked and softened then eaten.) I squeezed some in a fruit machine and I mixed it with Auchentoshan Three Wood which has on the nose fruits like raisins, especially dates, and orange peel and on the palate a beautiful balance of dark, syrupy, fruity, maturation flavours and cedary, oily, marshmallow characteristics, along with Cherry Heering and Carpano Antica Formula and 10ml of Grand Marnier to enhance the flavors.” Marques says this drink will go on the menu at 1105 in 2011.

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist. Marques says you can also double the whisky and garnish the drink with a sherry-plumped cherry.

Vermouth and Cherry Brandy

Both the vermouth and the cherry brandy sweeten the Blood and Sand, so most bartenders are cautious of using too much of either ingredient. These are both important elements in the drink, but play more of a supportive role to the scotch and citrus and are usually kept in the background.
In Lebensstern’s Blood and Sand, Albrecht uses Carpano vermouth and Cherry Heering liqueur, both in less quantities than the scotch in the drink. He says he researched other brands though. “I tried some but found our favorites for his drink. The focus was to show the complexity of the Ardbeg, so we used some very good, but not too dominant partners.”

The typical sweet vermouths include Noilly Pratt and Martini & Rossi. Some bartenders substitute Punt y Mes or Dubonnet for sweet vermouth in the Blood and Sand and other cocktails and adjust the recipes to match. Several bartenders interviewed for this story call for Carpano Antica Formula, a robustly flavored vermouth with some chocolate notes, made based on a recipe from 1786. While most brands of vermouth can be used in equal parts to the scotch and other ingredients, Carpano Antica is so powerful it typically must be used in smaller quantities.
Surprisingly, the one ingredient that bartenders change the least often in this cocktail is the cherry brandy. Bartenders almost always use Cherry Heering, which is actually a cherry liqueur. Of the bartenders interviewed for this story, only Beretta’s Fitzgerald uses Visciolo (an Italian sour cherry dessert wine) in addition to Cherry Heering, which he says adds more brightness to the drink.

Other cherry brandies or liqueurs that might be substituted include kirsch (unaged cherry brandy) and other cherry liqueurs including Combier Roi Rene Rouge and ones made by liqueur houses like Bols and Marie Brizard. Despite all the different variations of the drink made with scotch and mezcal, smoked syrups, and a variety of citrus fruits, there are still more vermouths and more cherry ingredients with which to experiment. Despite its classic status dating back to at least 1930, the Blood and Sand is not a drink frozen in time and takes on new forms depending on the bartender in charge.

Beware of Flamed Garnishes

The Blood and Sand is often not garnished, but when so it is typically done with an orange peel. Some bartenders create an orange twist or knot that they drop into the drink. Others make a flamed orange peel by squeezing a coin-sized section of peel toward the cocktail glass and holding a match flame between the peel and the drink. (This is famously depicted on the cover of Dale DeGroff’s Craft of the Cocktail book.)

San Francisco bartender Erik Adkins noted though that many bartenders are using the wrong type of oranges to flame. He says, “It is important to get oranges without wax or paraffin on them. Most oranges sold in grocery stores are treated so that they will have more eye appeal to the consumer. (When flamed) the wax leaves a nasty smelling black streak of burnt oil on the top of the drink. I have seen this in a lot of bars. I have met bartenders whose fingers were stained black from flaming peels.” Adkins continues: “The way we can check our fruit is to flame the peel over a white napkin. If you get a smelly black streak then it has been treated. It is a pretty dramatic effect,” he says.

Win a trip to BCB in Berlin, 500 Euros and a silver Stelton shaker by putting your own twist on the iconic Singapore Sling.

Cherry Heering is a brand that all bartenders know and one that sits on almost every back bar in the country but the history of this brand is less widely understood. It has a heritage dating back almost 200 years since its launch in 1818. In fact Cherry Heering was one of the worlds truly global brands.

It is then, little surprise, that it is a vital ingredient in classic cocktails such as the Singapore Sling and Blood & Sand. It is the former cocktail that Cherry Herring celebrate each year through their Peter F. Heering Sling Awards.

The Singapore Sling may have gone out of fashion a touch in recent years (not least due to the bar that claims to be the home of the Sling now producing awful imitations of the drink that made it famous) but this should not take away from the fact that a well made Singapore Sling is a superb drink that should be in every bartenders repertoire.

Cherry Heering though are looking to the future and as a result run a competition each year to discover the latest modern twist on this drink. The competition now commands great respect internationally and this years entry system is up and running.

To get involved you need to compose a cocktail inspired by the classic Singapore Sling. The drink must include Cherry Heering – no homemade syrups or other infusions are allowed. Name the drink and take a picture (including the Heering bottle is a plus). Upload picture and recipe together with your information, via the Heering.com web page, before the 25th May.

From this point the 16 semi-finalists will be picked from the global entries by an international jury. These 15 will receive an electronic tablet with all the details on the next round. The next round will see all 15 finalists making a 3 minute video which will be judged in London before the top 5 are flown out to the BCB exhibition in Berlin to compete for the cash, goodies and bragging rights.

For those of you who haven’t been to BCB or checked out the Berlin bar scene it is well worth the effort for that alone. So get your creative hats on and put a spin on a drink which should be more celebrated, who knows you might even fall back in love with this classic.

One of the world’s best-known cocktail competitions has launched for 2014 and is offering bartenders the chance to take on the classic Singapore Sling and make it their own.

Cherry Heering’s prestigious annual competition, the Peter F. Heering Sling Award, calls for bartenders worldwide to create their own interpretation of the classic cocktail, the Singapore Sling. The prize up for grabs includes two nights in Berlin, 500 Euro, a stunning new shaker and the glory of being crowned the winner of this esteemed global competition.

As an original ingredient in what is said to be the first recipe of a Singapore Sling, created in Raffles Hotel in Singapore by Mr Ngiam Tong Boon, a bottle of Cherry Heering from 1915 is still on display at the hotel.

The world famous Cherry Heering liqueur is a small but vital part to this cocktail, distinguishing it from the generic sling and adding a burst of flavour and depth. Which is why this competition has become a bench mark in a bartender’s career and proves an exciting challenge of tackling such an iconic drink.

To enter you’ll need to come up with a cocktail inspired by, and worthy of being a predecessor of, the Singapore Sling. Your cocktail must include Cherry Heering – no homemade syrups or other infusions are allowed.

Find a name and then photograph the drink, if you can get a bottle of Cherring Heering into the picture that’s even better. Then you’ll need to upload the image alongside the recipe and all your details to the website, www.Herring.com , or to the brands Facebook page. This needs to be done by the 25th of May 2014.

An international jury will select one winner from each participating country and from there 15 competitors will enter the semi-final. For this you’ll be given an electronic tablet, containing instructions for the semi-finals which take place at the end of August.

Five finalists will then be flown to Berlin in October to present their cocktails at the BCB Bar Convent. The winner will be selected from a mixed jury of audience votes and an expert panel. This champion will be presented with € 500 and a silver Stelton shaker from Denmark. They’ll also be given media exposure and snatch the title of the Peter F. Heering Sling Award.

“The iconic Peter F. Heering brand has had an unprecedented march back onto the back and front bar all around the world over the past few years and The Sling has always been the champion cocktail for Cherry Heering”, said Adéle Robberstad, CEO, Peter F. Heering/Maison Heinrich.

This is an amazing opportunity for bartenders around the world, head now to www.Herring.com to enter. Good luck.

THE 2014 PETER F. HEERING® SLING AWARDS TAKE THE STAGE & OPEN FOR ENTRIES

April — 2014 (New York, New York) — The Peter F. Heering Sling Award has already grown into one of the world’s greatest and largest cocktail competitions and is now open for inspired bartenders around the world to enter for the chance to star with Peter F. Heering on the brands continued journey back to being one of the world’s exciting, glamorous and top 10 prestige spirits brands.

Peter F. Heering is also proud to announce that Cocktail Historian and Author, David Wondrich will be a part of the Global Jury for the 2014 Peter F. Heering Finals at the BCB European Bar show in October, home to the Sling Award finals and also a Key Note speaker on the History of the Singapore Sling & Cherry Heering.

“I’m thrilled to be a global judge for the 2014 Peter F. Heering Sling Awards. The original Singapore Sling is one of the worlds most storied and delightful mixed drinks and Cherry Heering, which generations have recognized as an essential component of the drink, is one of the foundational brands of modern mixology,” said David Wondrich, Cocktail Historian and 2014 Peter F. Heering Sling Award Global Judge

“It does my heart good to see their long, storied and intertwined history extend themselves so vigorously into the 21st century.”

“The iconic Peter F. Heering brand has had an unprecedented march back onto the back and front bar all around the world over the past few years and The Sling has always been the champion cocktail for Cherry Heering”, said Adéle Robberstad, CEO, Peter F. Heering/Maison Heinrich

Peter F. Heering has always been fashionable – a history of 200 years as one of the first global brands (EVER) – purveyor to every royal court worthy of their name. Peter F. Heering, a fashion accessory since 1818 and a part of iconic cocktails such as the Singapore Sling and the Blood & Sand. Peter F Heering is today present in over 100 markets.

The world famous, iconic cocktail such as the Singapore Sling is one of Cherry Heering’s primary unique selling points – The Singapore Sling should be on the drink list in any decent bar.

About The 2014 Peter F. Heering Sling Awards

ü Create your own interpretation of the classic cocktail The Singapore Sling

ü Compete for the title at Peter F Heering Sling Award, BCB Bar Convent in Berlin, October 2014

ü Compose a cocktail inspired by the classic Singapore Sling. The drink must include Cherry Heering – no homemade syrups or other infusions are allowed. Name the drink and take a picture. (Including the Heering bottle is a plus). Upload picture and recipe together with your information, using the registration form on Facebook or on Heering.com web page, starting April 22nd and no later than the 25th of May 2014

ü As last year, each semi-finalist will receive one personal electronic tablet, containing instructions for the semi-finals that takes place in London end of August. The semi-finalist shall upload a 3 min (max) video to a designated portal. Specific instructions will be provided along with the tablet. An international expert jury will choose five finalist going to Berlin for the final in October

ü The five finalists will personally present their cocktails at the BCB Bar Convent in Berlin, Germany on the 7-8th of October 2014. A mixed jury, consisting of expert and audience votes will select one winner

ü Apart from the honor and media exposure, all five finalist get airfare and two hotel nights in trendy Berlin. The winner receives € 500 and a silver Stelton shaker from Denmark

The 2013 Peter F Heering Sling Award-winner was, Michael Flannery from New York (USA) with his drink the “Highland Sling”

-More-

Peter F. Heering has had the unique honor to be purveyor to every royal court worthy of their name while possessing the proper style, class and breeding to socialize across the courts of the world. HEERING® has always been fashionable. CHERRY HEERING® is a small but indispensable component of iconic cocktails such as The Singapore Sling, and that is exactly how HEERING® likes to be seen; as an accessory that adds lavishness, extravagance and civilization to the mix.

HEERING® continues to evolve and recognize that even the timeless classics need a refreshing remake now and then, thus HEERING® has challenged the best of the best behind the world’s bars to create their own interpretation of The Singapore Sling and also possibly writing their name in the history of cocktails.

CHERRY HEERING liqueur is sold in more than 100 countries all over the world and is the essential ingredient in the world famous Singapore Sling and Blood and Sand cocktails. For more information about Peter F. Heering, please visit

March — 2014 (New York, New York) — The Peter F. Heering Sling Award has already grown into one of the world’s greatest and largest cocktail competitions and starting April 22nd inspired bartenders will have the chance to star with Peter F. Heering on the brands continued journey back to being one of the world’s exciting, glamorous and top 10 prestige spirits brands.

“The iconic Peter F. Heering brand has had an unprecedented march back onto the back and front bar all around the world over the past few years and The Sling has always been the champion cocktail for Cherry Heering”, said Adéle Robberstad, CEO, Peter F. Heering/Maison Heinrich

Peter F. Heering has always been fashionable – a history of 200 years as one of the first global brands (EVER) – purveyor to every royal court worthy of their name. Peter F. Heering, a fashion accessory since 1818 and a part of iconic cocktails such as the Singapore Sling and the Blood & Sand. Peter F Heering is today present in over 100 markets.

The world famous, iconic cocktail such as the Singapore Sling is one of Cherry Heering’s primary unique selling points – The Singapore Sling should be on the drink list in any decent bar.

About The 2014 Peter F. Heering Sling Awards

ü Create your own interpretation of the classic cocktail The Singapore Sling

ü Compete for the title at Peter F Heering Sling Award, BCB Bar Convent in Berlin, October 2014

ü Compose a cocktail inspired by the classic Singapore Sling. The drink must include Cherry Heering – no homemade syrups or other infusions are allowed. Name the drink and take a picture. (Including the Heering bottle is a plus). Upload picture and recipe together with your information, using the registration form on Facebook or on Heering.com web page, starting April 22nd and no later than the 25th of May 2014.

ü An international jury will select one winner from each participating country. Out of the national winners, 15 will be selected for the semi-final.

ü As last year, each semi-finalist will receive one personal electronic tablet, containing instructions for the semi-finals that takes place in London end of August. The semi-finalist shall upload a 3 min (max) video to a designated portal. Specific instructions will be provided along with the tablet. An international expert jury will choose five finalist going to Berlin for the final in October

ü The five finalists will personally present their cocktails at the BCB Bar Convent in Berlin, Germany on the 7-8th of October 2014. A mixed jury, consisting of expert and audience votes will select one winner

ü Apart from the honor and media exposure, all five finalist get airfare and two hotel nights in trendy Berlin. The winner receives € 500 and a silver Stelton shaker from Denmark

The 2013 Peter F Heering Sling Award-winner was, Michael Flannery from New York (USA) with his drink the “Highland Sling”.

Peter F. Heering has had the unique honor to be purveyor to every royal court worthy of their name while possessing the proper style, class and breeding to socialize across the courts of the world. HEERING® has always been fashionable. CHERRY HEERING® is a small but indispensable component of iconic cocktails such as The Singapore Sling, and that is exactly how HEERING® likes to be seen; as an accessory that adds lavishness, extravagance and civilization to the mix.

HEERING® continues to evolve and recognize that even the timeless classics need a refreshing remake now and then, thus HEERING® has challenged the best of the best behind the world’s bars to create their own interpretation of The Singapore Sling and also possibly writing their name in the history of cocktails.

CHERRY HEERING liqueur is sold in more than 100 countries all over the world andis the essential ingredient in the world famous Singapore Sling and Blood and Sandcocktails. For more information about Peter F. Heering, please visit

The Spectacular Le Croco Bleu was scene to New York Bar Star Mike Flannery Shaking Out a Global Win at the Peter F. Heering Sling Award Cocktail Finalists

October, 2013 (Berlin, Germany) — A winner has been crowned for the 2013 Peter F. Heering Sling Awards in Berlin, Germany as New York Barman, Mike Flannery takes tops honors at the 2013 Peter F. Heering Sling Award at the BCB Bar Convent in Berlin, which took place October 8th – 9th, 2013. The Sling cocktail has not attained such global attention since one of the earliest bar stars (though we are sure he was unaware of said working at the stature) Ngiam Tong Boon, a Hainanese bartender Long Bar in Raffles Hotel Singapore created the Singapore Sling.

Now Mike Flannery can lay some claim to having influence on remaking the famous Sling cocktail.